In an effort to shed light on the condition with which he was born, "Mike," a pseudonymous Australian man, spoke to that country's Nine News about living with a micropenis.

Mike is currently preparing for a second round of penis-lengthening surgery, after an earlier procedure, for "lengthening and widening," was unsuccessful. To pay for the expensive first operation, he used funds from the mortgage on his house. The upcoming surgery could reportedly cost up to $50,000.

What is having a micropenis — defined by Nine News as a dick that's less than 2.75 inches when erect — actually like? Some snippets of an earlier interview with Mike paint a pretty bleak picture:

"It has prevented me from doing or experiencing a lot of things," he told ninemsn. "I haven't experienced proper relationships. I found it difficult to talk to girls."

...

"I'd happily be less intelligent, lose a few IQ points and have a bigger penis," he says.

"I am now diagnosed bipolar and have pretty bad bouts of depression. My sex drive has diminished due to the anti-depressants."

Compounding Mike's romantic woes is the "sausage-fest" of a town he lives in, apparently:

He told 9 Stories that he hasn't been with a woman since his first surgery, so he hasn't "had a chance to try it out yet."

And he admits that socialising with women with a view to romance is difficult as well.

"Where I live, it's a bit of a sausage-fest. But then I always put myself in a position where I have the least chance to meet someone."

The first surgery was insufficient because "The ligament regrafted itself onto the dermal fat graft and I got some retraction," he says, but he hopes the upcoming round will reverse his woes. The interview closes with a message of support from Mike to anyone else suffering the same condition: "Hang in there."